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I have outgrown my current set up and need a inexpensive way of utilising all the disks I can fit into some large JBOD's.

I came across these LSI SAS switches that seem to tick all the boxes for what I want to do (carve up many disks in a JBOD between multiple servers), however im concerened that they have been around since 2010 but no other vendors appear to have equivalent products, I hate to be locked into one vendor and I presume the SAS switches have not really taken off otherwise other vendors would be making them?

If anyone has any comments on them I would be greatful.

Thanks

Paul

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I haven't seen a ton of action on the SAS switch front honestly. Most of the current switching tech goes into JBODs or expanders themselves. Its a very niche category. In terms of being locked into one vendor, LSI is currently one of the few places even making that type of gear outside of maybe Adaptec/PMC with some of the silicon.

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Also the JBOD's we have only have SAS interfaces and we need to reuse them with whatever I come up with.

What I have read and understand about the SAS6160 I think I must be missing something as they seem to be a great idea, some of the benefits of a proper FC SAN e.g. Zoning but using much cheaper components i.e. LSI HBA's instead of FC adaptors etc...

I cant help but think if they are as good as I think they are why is no one but LSI doing them.

Paul

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The technology is fine, but like many technologies that are better or faster, it doesnt mean its more popular. Most datacenters are equipped with FC or Ethernet (or optical cables for both)... few are wired up for longer distances of SAS. Its a neat idea and very sound from a reliability standpoint, just not too popular.

Since your main focus is cost, you will be hard pressed to beat the affordability or performance. It will most likely be faster than 16Gb FC or 10-40Gb Ethernet by a longshot.